Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The stars have never been better aligned for The Great Chip Kelly Experiment to work in the NFL for the Philadelphia Eagles.
It is time for Kelly to make his team great, right now.
If Kelly’s innovative read-option is ever going to work in the NFL, he needs Marcus Mariota to be his Eddington.
Whatever it takes, Kelly needs to come away with Mariota on draft night Thursday night because, whatever happens with Kelly in the NFL depends on him running his offense with this perfect quarterback for his system. While a healthy Sam Bradford — and the chance of that ever happening is unlikely at best — would run that kind of read-option system better than Nick Foles for example, no two would be better paired than Kelly and Mariota to revolutionize the league.
Kelly needs to do the deal and it is not outside the scope of his ability. Even if Kelly has to give up this year’s No. 1, next year’s No. 1 and any combination of Bradford and other players, he’s got to get this done. Every team has a price and Kelly must be willing to pay it.
If he doesn’t, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, the team’s fans and even Kelly would wonder what would have happened had Mariota not gotten away, and that kind of angst must be avoided at any cost.
Mike Gibson is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @papreps , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
